Rail joint



Aug. 23, 1932. C NG V 1,873,097

RAIL JOINT Filed March 9, 1931 1 FIG. I. g

:12 a 7 a 512E111 1 FIG- H INVENTOR:

BY ATTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 23, 1932 UNITED STATES CHARLES D. YOUNG, or HAVEIRFORD, rENNsYLvAnIA RAIL JorN'r Application filed March 9,

- This invention relates torail joints and more particularly to joint bars of the continuous type, the primary object of the invention, generally stated, being to provide a joint bar of the continuous type which is capable of more efficiently performing the rail supporting and clamping functions for which such bars are designed and yet which is of comparatively simple and inexpensive manu- 16 facture.

Heretofore it has been proposed to manufacture joint bars of the continuous type in a variety of cross-sectional shapes, generally characterized by the provision of three sep} arate bearing surfaces designed to contact.

respectively with the underside of the rail head, the top slope of the rail flange and the underside of the rail flange." If it werepossible at reasonable cost to manufacture rails 29 and joint'bars with dimensions of such accuracy that uniform-contact between rail and bar might be obtained at all three ofthe above mentioned regions, -throughout the length of a rail joint, joint bars of this character might indeed accomplish all that is claimed for them. As a matterof fact, however, rails and bars cannot, economically at least, be manufactured with such accuracy of dimensions] Rails and, bars. which are made in large quantities under present rolling mill practice are necessarily subject to variations in thickness and in true parallelism between surfaces, and these variations render it impossible to obtain uniform contact between three bearing. surfaces on'theba'r,v all in; planes closely approaching parallelism, and corresponding surfaces'on therails. It will readily be appreciated that, as wear takes, place and itbecomes necessary to draw up the bars of a joint by tightening the nuts, the difficulty in maintaining uniform. engagement between bar and rails at these bearing surfaces isaccentuated. The result, therefore, of mill variations or irregularities in bars and rails, which have been rolled to ap proximate closely the desired shape but never theless are not strictly speaking accurately dimensioned, is that when the rail joint is assembled intimate engagement betweenthe "joint bars and rails will occur only at two .the underside of the rail head or upon the functioning of the bar;

to the assembly of therail joint, andiby asso- 1931. Serial 170,521,297. I 7

bearing surfaces rather than at three bean ing surfaces ;"and the contemplated .rail supporting function of the bars will be defeated, and this will be so even though the-joint bar employed has capacity for fleXure or distortion to vary the angularity between its upright member and its foot and base flanges.

It maybe found, for example, that, while the head of the joint bar bears effectively upon I rail head fillet, to effect this engagementhas caused the rail base to be imperfectly supported within the foot and baseflanges of the bara conditionwhich isfatal to the proper Accordingly, the joint bar of the present invention has been designed toovercome the above recited difficulties, and this is accomplished by avoiding contact between the head of the joint bar andth'e rail head or rail head fillet, and by providing predetermined re 'gions-of flexure which are somewhat remote from the bearing surfaces and about which the members of the bar may be plied incident' ciating with 'thejo-int bar a supporting plate which is stiffened vertically and which bridges the ties beneath the rail joint. Joint bars of this character support the rails in vertical alignment by engagement solely'at the base flanges of the rails, andf' whatever advantage, ifany at all, is sacrificed by the non-support of the rail head,-is more than compensatedlbythe' uniformity of engageinent throughout'the rail joint at predetermined areas of'cont'act between the foot and base flanges of the bars and the rail bases. F

Other more specific objects-characterizing the rail joint structure of this invention will become more apparent from thedetailed description which 1 follows hereinafter having reference to the accompanying drawing, whereof:

Fig. I represents a side elevationof a rail joint embodying my invention. Fig. II represents a cross section of the same, taken as indicated by the lines II II of Fig. I. 1

Figs. III, IV and V representsimilar views showing onlythe head portion of a rail and I I three alternate forms which the head of the joint bar may take.

Fig. VI represents a side elevation of the joint bar of Fig. I; and,

Fig. VII represents a side elevation of a modified form of joint bar. r

In the drawing, there is shown a rail ofa standard cross-sectional shape, the head of the rail being designated at 1, the web portion at 2, and the base or flange at 3.

' The joint bar selected for illustration is ofthe so-called continuous type, that is, a joint bar which includes a base flange which passes beneath the base of the rail, as contrasted'with a bar the bearing surfaces of which are confined to the fishing space of a rail; and while the description of the present invention refers to a joint bar of a special or preferred shape, this particular shape is by no means es'sential to the invention but admits of considerable variation. Generally, the bar comprises an .upright member 4, a foot flange terminating in a relatirielynarrow downturnedneck 6,and a base .flange7. "With reference to the example shown in Fig. II, it will be seen that the head portion 8 of each-upright member 4 is confined to the inside of the outside vertical line of the rail head 1, and that the bolting surfaces 90f the joint bars are in the planes'of the outside surfaceof the rail heads.- Thehead of each bar terminates short of the underside of the rail head 1 so that there is substantial clearance not only at the bottom slopes of the rail head butalso at'the rail head fillets. ,"It is contemplated that the joint bar heads may assume a variety of alternative shapes as shown at 8a, 8b and 80 in Figs. III, IV and V,- respectively,- and the determining factor governing the shapeof'thebar headto be selected is one of moment of inertia, for the head portion of thejointbar'performs' no direct rail'supporting function. The formation of-a protuberant rib as shown at 8?) and '80 serves to increase themoment of inertia of the joint bar. v

The upright member 4 is relatively thick at its head portion 8, especially at the region 7. where it bears upon theweb 2 of the rail,

and is of gradually diminishing thickness towardskthe foot member 5. At the base of the bolting surfacethe' upright member 4 is jparticularly'thin, as indicated at 00, and is spaced, at some distance from therail web,

' thusafl'ording a region of fleXure which permits the upright member 4 to be bodily bent with respect to the foot flange 5.

The foot flange-5 "of-the joint. bar isrelatively thick at its inner edge and of gradually diminishing thickness towards its outer flange '5 of the jointbar bears upon a portion of the rail: flange, and for this purpose the bar is provided with a substantially flat surface 11 corresponding in inclination with the flat surface at the top slope of the rail flange. The outwardly converging top and bottom surfaces of the foot flange 5 terminate at a" ance at the region of flexure y between the joint bar and the'rail base, it being desirable that'the relative fleXure of the members of the bar should occur only at regions some what remote from the areas of contact.

The neck portion 6 of the joint bar is relatively thin but preferably of greater thickness than the region 11 and, when the bar is applied to a rail, the neck portion is spaced at aconsiderable. distance from the'edge of the rail base. Furthermore, the'inside surfaces of the joint bar in the vicinity of the neck portion are preferably configured as shown in the drawing at 12, sovthat the margins of the rail flange adjacent to its outer edge are substantially clear ofthe joint bar.

iThe base flange 7' of the joint bar is of uniform thicknessexcept in the vicinity of the neck portion 6, and it affords a relatively large. area of contact at 13, upon which the base of the rail bears. In this connection, it will be observed that the area of contact where the bar bears upon the top slope of the rail flange is of less width than and substantially centered with respect to thearea of contact wherefthe barbears upon the bottom of the rail flange. Accordingly, when the bar is adjusted upon the rail, the line of support remains constant and there is no chancevfor the bar to be improperly applied, or cooked tooneiside or another. The base flanges? of opposedjoint bars are in turn supported upon a tie plate or similar foundation.

The plate 14 shown inthe drawing is a two-tie joint plate having vertical rib-s 15 and having irregularly shaped flanges 16 at its outside edges,.which flanges ,are' turned upward for stiffening purposes at the spaces between ties, as shown in Fig. I. Inasmuch as the base flanges 7 of the joint bars areisupported upon the vertically stiffened plate :14

and are held in vise-like engagement between in the joint bars is permitted.

It will be particularly noted that the means for fastening the joint bars together with the rail end portions gripped therebetween, which are shown as bolts 17 of the type commonly used for rail joints, are confined to the ends of the joint bars, there being no bolt holes in the central portions of the bars. By

'avoidingrfastening bolts at the central portions ofthe bar, the stresses normally occurring at these portions incident to the passage of heavy loads over the joint, and which tend to split the rails at their ends, are relieved, though the rail is rigidly supported on the underlying joint bar flanges 7 and on the joint plate 14:.

Furthermore, the joint bars of this inven- 1 tion may take the form shown in Fig. VII in which the foot flange 5,Lof the joint bar, instead of being uniformly spaced with respect to the base flange 7 of the bar is vertically deflected at the center of the bar asshown at 18, while the base flange of the bar is flat throughout its length. This curvature provides slight clearance at the center of the I fled dimensions, or such variations or irregularities as occur as the result of wear in service, are taken care of by the reglons of fleXure shown at 00 and c which in view of the clearance provided at the rail head, permit the bearing surfaces of the upright member 4, of the foot flange 5 and of the base flange 6 to adjust themselves to the shape of the rails incident to the tightening of the nuts on the bolts 17. Such deformation as takes place when the oint bars are assembled and drawn up against the rails is confined to the regions of flexure which are, as before stated, comparatively remote from the areas of Contact; and consequently the relative flexure of the oint bar members does not interfere with the maintenance of intimate engagement between the bearing surfaces of the joint bars and the rails throughout the areas at which such engagement is desired.

While I have described a particular rail joint, illustrating and explaining certain contemplated modifications in the form of joint bar employed therein, it will be apparent that various changes, other than those herein described, may be made in the shape of the joint bar without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A rail joint including a continuous type joint bar formed to bear solely upon the web and flange of a rail, and having portions of reduced thickness, whereby the parts of the bar have capacity for relative flexure, and a plate supporting the base flange of said joint bar and bridging a number of ties therebeneath. V

2. A rail joint including acontinuous type joint bar, comprising an upright member clear of the rail head, and foot and base flanges having capacity for relative flexure,

and a plate supporting the base flange of said 1 joint bar and bridging a number of ties therebeneath.

3. A rail joint including a continuous type joint bar, including an upright member clear of the rail head and a foot flange, said upright member having capacity for flexure with relation to said foot flange, and a vertically stiflened tie plate supporting the base flange of said joint bar and bridging a num ber of tiestherebeneath.

4. A rail joint including a continuous type joint bar, comprising an upright member clear of the rail head, a base member having a flat bearing surface contacting with the bottom of a rail flange, and a foot member with the ends thereof bearing upon the top of a rail flange, and with the center thereof deflected to provide clearance between said foot member and rail at adjoining rail ends, and a plate supporting the base member of said joint bar and bridging a number of ties therebeneath.

5. A rail joint including a continuous type joint bar, comprising an upright member clear of the rail head, a base member having a flat bearing surface contacting with the bottom of a rail flange and a foot'member with the'endsthereof bearing-upon'the top V of a rail flange, and with thecenter thereof deflected to provide clearance between said foot member and rail at adjoining ends, said foot section having a relatively thin portion where it joins said base section afi'ording a region of flexure, and a plate supporting the. base member of said joint bar and bridging a number of ties therebeneath.

6. A rail joint, including adjoining rail end portions, and continuous joint bars at opposite sides thereof, said bars being formed with upright members clear of the rail heads,

and means for fastening said joint bars together with the rail end portions gripped therebetween, said fastening means being confined to the ends of the jointbars, and a plate supporting the base flanges ofsaid joint bars and bridging a number of ties therebeneath. a

7 A rail joint, including adjoining rail end portions and continuous joint bars at opmembers of said joint bars and bridging a number of ties therebeneath.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- V vania,this 9th day of March, 1931. I

CHARLES D. YOUNG. 

